NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE AND HISTORICAL REPRESENTATION IN BAI JUYI'S "SONG OF ETERNAL SORROW" by Xiru Wang A thesis is submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Master of Art Graduate Department of the East Asian Studies University of Toronto © Xiru Wang, 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44982-0 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44982-0 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract NARRATIVE PERSPECTIVE AND HISTORICAL REPRESENTATION IN BAI JUYI'S "SONG OF ETERNAL SORROW" Xiru Wang Master of Arts Thesis, November 2008 Graduate Department of East Asian Studies University of Toronto The subject of my dissertation is the narratological analysis of Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow." Drawing on Gerard Genette's theory, I include three elements of narrative analysis: point of view, characterization, and sequential structure. The purposes of my analysis are to examine the development of narrative characteristics, primarily the relationship between the fictional narratives and the historical narratives, in Chinese narrative poetry, and to explore the interplay of narrative elements between poetry and other literary genres. My research makes contributions to three areas: it evaluates the place of Tang dynasty narrative poetry in the development of Classical Chinese narrative tradition; it compares the relationship between fictional narrative and historical narrative; and it appraises the influence of narrative poetry on other literary genres. The examination of the narrative characteristics in poetry can help us to further understand the interplay between narrative poetry with other literary genres in Chinese poetic tradition. 11 Acknowledgements I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Professor Graham Sanders for his supervision, inspirations, and encouragements during my one year M.A study in the Department of East Asian Studies at University of Toronto. I would like also to express my gratitude to Professor Daniel J. Bryant at University of Victoria for his help in many ways. It is him, who inspired my interests in the field of Pre-modem Chinese Literature, encouraged and introduced me to the advanced studies in the field. Finally, I would like to express my gratitude to my father Mr. Xuanen Wang for :£ m. iS his support, as well as my mother Ms. Ying Luo §? ^ for her encouragements in my life. in Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements Hi Table of Content iv Chapter 1 Introduction: Theoretical Background 1 1.1 The Features of Narrative poetry 1 1.2 Fictional Narrative versus Historical Narrative 6 1.3 The Purpose of Narrative 13 Chapter 2 The Analysis of Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" 19 2.1 Introduction and Synopsis 19 2.2 "Song of Eternal Sorrow"'s Artistic Characteristics and Social Effects 22 2.3 The difference between the fictional approach and the historical approach 35 Chapter 3 Narratological Analysis 39 3.1 Introduction 39 3.2 Point of View 40 3.3 Characterization 49 3.4 Sequential Structure 57 3.5 Imagery and Metaphors 62 Chapter4 Comparative Studies 66 4.1 From The Joyful Kingdom to "Song of Eternal Sorrow" 66 iv 4.2 Comparison with "An Account to go with the 'Song of Eternal Sorrow'" 72 4.3 Comparison with The Palace of Eternal Youth 78 4.4 Comparison with "The Tale of Yingying" 79 4.5 Comparison with Japanese Noh Play Yokihi 81 4.6 Conclusion 82 Bibliography 85 Appendix Translation and Chinese Texts 89 V Chapter One: Introduction: Theoretical Background I. The Features of Narrative poetry Narrative poetry has played an important role in the development of Chinese literature, it has been greatly influenced by the lyrical tradition in Chinese poetry. However, it differs from the lyrical poetry1 in its linguistic features. Lyrical poetry is characterized by the imagistic language in composition, while the language in narrative poetry is more propositional. Imagistic language needs no specific referee, its syntax is discontinuous, and restrained from temporal reference. In contrast, proposition language requires the presence of an agent as a background for the narrative development, it syntax is continuous, and it context tends to be embedded within a temporal sequence.2 In other words, lyricism in Chinese narrative poetry is embedded with narrative features, which are different from lyricism in lyrical poetry.3 Lyric poetry refers to either poetry that has the form and musical quality of a song, or a usually short poem that expresses personal feelings, which may or may not be set to music. An example would be a piece of song lyrics, which expresses sentimental feelings and could be performed to an audience. Comparing with lyrical poetry, narrative poetry has the following features: First of all, Narrative poetry is simply poetry which tells a story. The length of the poem may be short or long, and the content of the story may be simple or complex. Narrative poems include epics, ' Lyrical Poetry: (ci If). Ci is a genre of poetry which came into existence in T'ang dynasty. It became an important vehicle for lyrical poetry during the Five Dynasties (907-960) and Song dynasty (960-1278). The word ci means no more than 'words for singing,' and it is used to designate poetry written to existing music. 2 See Gao Yukong and Mei Zulin, "Syntax, Diction and Imagery in T'ang Poetry," Harvard Journal of Asiatic Stuidesl] (1971):pp.49-136. 3 See Dore. J Levy, Chinese Narrative Poetry: the Late Han Through T'ang Dynasties (Durham: Duke Unversity Press, 1988), pp.25-27. 1 2 ballads, and idylls, and the best example is Bai Juyi's (ErlJItla) "Song of Eternal Sorrow" ("Changhen Ge"J|'[;|§U0, as a piece of Music Bureau Poetry.,4 it tells a story of the tragic imperial romance between Tang Emperor Xuan-zong with his beloved concubines Lady Yang. Secondly, Narrative poetry is among the oldest, and perhaps the oldest genre of poetry. Much of the earliest literary works we have from many literatures are derived from the oral tradition. Oral tradition is a medium for a society to transmit knowledge, such as history and literature, across generations without recorded in writing. The method of transmitting cultural material is through vocal utterance, in order to preserve the material and handed it down to later generations. Much of narrative poetry is performance poetry and has its source in an oral tradition. For instance, some of the poems from The Classics of Poetry (Shi Jing I^g) were originally intended for recitation, rather than reading. In many cultures, there remains a lively tradition of the recitation of traditional tales in verse form. It has been suggested that some of the distinctive features that distinguish poetry from prose, such as meter and rhyme, at one time served as memory aids that allowed the narrator who recites traditional tales to reconstruct them from their memories. Some narrative poems take the form of a novel in verse. An example of this is the Tale ofYingying f|flt{l|by Yuan Zhen, who is a contemporary and friend of Bai Juyi. In terms of narrative poetry, a romance is basically a narrative poem that tells a story of chivalry. Examples include Bai Juyi's "Song of Eternal Sorrow" and "Ballad of 4 Music Bureau Poetry: (Yuefushi ^Jfff§rf) (eir. 12lh - 7th centuries B.C.) refers to songs collected and edited by the Emperor Wu of Han (157-87 B.C), as well as later folk songs of a common nature. 5 The Classics of Poetry: (Shi Jing |f $M) is a collection of over three hundreds poems from the Zhou dynasty (1020-249 B.C.). 3 pi-pa." Although these examples use historical and biographical materials as background, the fictional material of the romance also occupies an important space for composition. Fiction is an imaginative form of narrative, one of the four basic rhetorical modes. It may also include real people, places, and events. Fiction may be either written or oral. For example, most of fictional anecdotes of the strange and extraordinary from Liao Zhai 's Record of Wonders {Liao Zhai Zhi Yi WW^^:) are collected from oral materials and then recorded and revised in writing form by the author Pu Songling M¥£H& (1640 - 1715).